There is known a wheelchair movement assistance system in which a tow carriage which moves along a previously set guide is used to safely tow a wheelchair to a destination. (See Patent literature 1)
There is also known a manually moving vehicle which is provided with a seat portion which is supported by way of a plate spring on a supporting shaft for supporting wheels on both sides and a steering rod which tows the seat portion, in which the seat portion has a chair-type seat pipe frame to which a seating member, a back rest member and a foot rest member are mounted. (See Patent literature 2)
Further, there is known a simple connection type of wheelchair tow carriage which does not require a large-scale connection device but can be easily connected manually by a wheelchair user personally and also can be traveled at a safe speed if operated by a handicapped person who has troubles moving fingers or hands. (See Patent literature 3)
Still further, there is known a rotationally movable arm-equipped wheelchair in which a care provider is able to smoothly move a wheelchair on which a care-needing person sits when going up and down a slope or when traveling on a rough place such as a gravel road. (See Patent literature 4)
However, in the case of the wheelchair movement supporting system which has been disclosed in the Patent Document 1, there is used a tow carriage which moves along a previously set guide. Therefore, the system has difficulty in dealing with emergency evacuation at the time of disaster or the like and also to travel on rough terrain such as a sandy area, a snowy road, a gravel road and a swampy area or on ascending slopes.
Further, the manually moving vehicle having a seat pipe-frame which has been disclosed in the Patent Document 2 has difficulty in being applied to a general-use wheelchair.
Still further, the simple connection type of wheelchair tow carriage which has been disclosed in the Patent Document 3 needs power supply from a battery. Therefore, the carriage is unable to tow a wheelchair if the battery is not charged, which poses a problem.
In addition, in the case of the rotationally movable arm-equipped wheelchair which has been disclosed in the Patent Document 4, a wheelchair is modified so that a rotationally movable arm is constantly kept attached and the wheelchair is attached so as to move rotationally in relation to a wheelchair main-body in a front back direction. This wheelchair can be folded but not handled in a similar manner as a generally-used wheelchair, which poses a problem.
In the case of requiring large-scale emergency evacuation such as the Great East Japan Earthquake or in the case of moving on rough terrain such as a sandy area, a snowy road, a gravel road and a swampy area or moving on ascending slopes, it is quite difficult to move a wheelchair by pushing a grip portion (grip) at the rear.
The wheelchair movement supporting device is required to be attached to a general-use wheelchair simply and within a short period of time when emergency evacuation is needed.
Further, the wheelchair movement assistance device is required to be compactly accommodated at normal times.